


Half a Kilometer Above the Earth

by Island_of_Reil



Series: Island Interlude [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Airships, Established Relationship, Flying, M/M, Sex in an Airship, YOLO
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-19
Updated: 2018-06-19
Packaged: 2019-05-25 06:13:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14970800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Island_of_Reil/pseuds/Island_of_Reil
Summary: Onyankopon takes Armin for a ride.





	Half a Kilometer Above the Earth

**Author's Note:**

> I thought the Marley arc killed my feels for this canon, but now they're coming back ... sigh ....

Reading all the aviation books that the Anti-Marleyan Volunteers managed to smuggle onto Paradis was one thing. Actually _being_ in an airship is a completely different thing altogether.

The next day after the Survey Corps commandeers one over the strait and flies it back to the island, Armin sweet-talks Onyankopon into taking him aboard. It’s their day off and Onyankopon says he’d honestly rather go crabbing on the rocks, or just lie in the shade with Armin's head on his chest all day and argue about the existence of God. But if Armin’s good at anything it’s talking people into things.

In the cockpit he boggles over the rows of dials and knobs and the long-distance talking apparatus. “How do you pay attention to all of these at once?” he asks.

“A looooooot of practice. Same way you learned to fly with Gear, right?”

“Yeah, but … that’s all physical,” Armin says. “You learn it with your body, not your brain.”

Onyankopon leans back in the seat with his arms braced behind his head, smiling with one eyebrow cocked, and Armin’s stomach flips over deliciously. “Same with piloting,” Onyankopon says. “Maybe not for an aeroplane. But for an airship? Absolutely.”

Armin gives him a look of disbelief and looks at the panel again to make his point. Onyankopon says, “Oh, sure, there’s all that. But, believe it or not, that’s the _easy_ part. All that stuff’s there to help you, you pick it up really quick. But it’s not enough when you hit an air pocket or the wind picks up. You got to know what to do, you got to have hours of experience, you better have faith in God, and you better have fast reflexes.” Deadpan, he adds, “The first few times out, maybe an extra pair of underwear with you too.”

That gets a laugh out of Armin. Onyankopon grins again and says, “So did _you_ shit yourself when you were first learning to fly, titan boy?”

Armin blushes a little and says, “Well… maybe once.” Several times, actually. Three times fewer than Jean, though.

It doesn’t take much to talk Onyankopon into treating him to a pleasure cruise. Seeing the walls on a map compared with seeing them from the air — Gear takes you pretty high, but not _that_ high — is pretty much the same as reading aviation books compared with riding in an airship. The shores of Paradis are vivid green petering out into cream-white or slate-grey, the water lapping at them dark blue and ripply.

Way off in the distance, Armin can see the little promontory that juts out into the strait on the Marleyan side. He turns away from the windshield.

“So,” Onyankopon says, straight-faced again. “Ever have sex in an airship before?”

Armin stares at him. “… while it’s _moving?”_

“While it’s moving, yeah. While I’m flying it, no. You put it on gyro, it does slow circles in the air, you go take a leak or a nap or get busy with a cute Eldian.”

“And that’s … perfectly safe?”

Onyankopon bursts out laughing. “A Survey Corpsman asking me if it’s perfectly safe. The guy who blew up the Liberio naval yard asking me if it’s perfectly safe. You only ever gonna take risks when you absolutely have to? Live a little.”

Armin thinks about that for a few seconds. Then he thinks about his odds of seeing the world these days. If nothing else, when he starts coughing up blood (if he lives that long) he’ll be able to remember that he fucked a good-looking man half a kilometer above the earth. So he returns Onyankopon’s grin and mischievously holds his gaze as he starts unbuttoning his shirt.


End file.
